Chapter 152 - 80: Heaven Lowers Its Gaze

Chapter 152: Chapter 80: Heaven Lowers Its Gaze

Dragged down with them, Liang Xun—who had been the first to provoke Jiang Xuan and had just been rescued—was pulled back into the deep pit.

This time, no one was able to rescue them. In an instant, the two figures were devoured by the Demon Beasts below, vanishing without a sound.

"No!"

"Fan Yang! Damn it, what the hell is going on?!"

"Bastard, this is all your doing!"

In that short time, two consecutive mistakes had led to two deaths. At this point, the students from the Yin Daoist School finally sensed that something was amiss. They realized the source of the catastrophe was Jiang Xuan, who was still hovering in mid-air.

Facing their furious glares, Jiang Xuan didn’t bother to explain himself. He just spoke calmly, "That’s right. It was my doing."

Having said that, and seeing the furious expressions on the faces of those around Lin Yiyi, Jiang Xuan shrugged and asked with a look of confusion, "Why are you making that face? Weren’t you the ones who first said—and acted on—the words, ’We’re not from the same Daoist School, so we can attack as we please’?"

As he spoke, the confusion and indifference on his face deepened. "You can’t possibly think that only you are allowed to attack others, and others aren’t allowed to attack you, right?"

"...CRACK!"

The words were direct and piercing. The people with Lin Yiyi had no retort.

Still, one person looked up, gritting his teeth as he roared furiously at Jiang Xuan in the sky.

"You bastard! Do you know who you’ve offended? How dare you move against us! Brother Chen won’t..."

"HUMMM!"

The man’s furious curse hadn’t even finished echoing when an immense pressure, as heavy as a mountain, suddenly crashed down, cutting off the rest of his words.

Then, Jiang Xuan’s cold, indifferent voice echoed across the land. "I don’t know yet what will happen when I face Chen Qianjun. But I do know that all of you are about to die."

As he spoke, Jiang Xuan lowered his eyes and looked down at the Cultivators below.

His gaze fell upon them, and the Yin Daoist School Cultivators, caught off guard, met his eyes.

"BOOM!"

A sound so immense it was silent.

The instant they met his gaze, it was as if they were looking at the heavens: indifferent, merciless, cold, and bearing down with a heavy pressure.

The moment they stared into those eyes, everyone with Lin Yiyi felt their hearts sink. Their bodies felt as if they were being crushed by an immense weight, and even their breathing became labored.

Soon, they discovered it was not just a trick of the mind.

As Jiang Xuan’s eyes focused on them, a real, tangible pressure, heavy as a mountain, suddenly fell upon them.

"WHUMMM—!"

This force of Gravity made their bodies suddenly feel more than seven times heavier.

Under normal circumstances, they could have endured this pressure with their Cultivation. But now, the ground was constantly cracking and collapsing around them.

Demon Beasts swarmed endlessly from the earth below. A sudden sevenfold increase in Gravity at a time like this was fatal.

"What is this?!"

"Bastard!"

"No, spare me..."

Jiang Xuan didn’t need to do anything more. He simply stood silently in mid-air, gazing down for the span of four or five breaths, and the terrifying Gravity pinned the Yin Daoist School disciples, rendering them unable to move an inch.

The next moment, the spreading chasms in the ground swallowed them. Countless Bloodthirsty Demon Beasts lunged forward, their snarls mingling with the disciples’ cries of agony.

In this hopeless situation, some were angry, some were terrified, and others were... filled with bitter regret.

"Damn you, Liang Xun! This is all your fault! Why did you have to provoke him?!"

In their final moments, they were finally filled with regret. Unfortunately, what was done was done. It was all too late.

...

Watching the figures disappear completely into the chasm, devoured by darkness and the torrent of Demon Beasts, Jiang Xuan shook his head, looking exasperated. "Honestly, why did you have to provoke me?"

After muttering to himself, he turned to Su Linyin and Dong Hao and said calmly, "Get ready. We’re moving ahead at full speed now."

His casual words made both Su Linyin and Dong Hao jolt, finally snapping them out of their stupor.

At that moment, neither of them quite dared to meet Jiang Xuan’s gaze.

They had witnessed the massacre just now with perfect clarity from the sky.

They had watched with their own eyes as people like Lin Yiyi and Liang Xun, whose strength was not that different from their own, were utterly helpless against Jiang Xuan.

More than a dozen Cultivators had been completely annihilated, defeated by nothing more than a few condescending glares from Jiang Xuan. This level of terrifying power was beyond their imagination.

Although he had partly used the terrain to his advantage, the world-toppling pressure Jiang Xuan unleashed with a simple downward glance still filled the two of them with reverence and fear.

At that moment, both of them felt they were seeing Jiang Xuan in a new light.

Now, having witnessed his true strength and still needing his help, their attitude toward Jiang Xuan naturally grew even more deferential.

...

After speaking to them, Jiang Xuan circulated his Magical Power, increasing the force driving his Nether Abyss Dharma Eye.

He then abruptly picked up speed, rocketing forward along the trial path within the Secret Realm.

"WHOOSH..."

"BOOM!"

The wind howled as he tore through the air. In mid-flight, Jiang Xuan’s eyebrow twitched as he sensed a figure with a terrifying presence hurtling back toward him from the opposite direction.

"Hm?!"

Glancing to the side in surprise, Jiang Xuan saw that the one flying back was none other than the strongest expert of the Yin Daoist School—Chen Qianjun!

Upon seeing him, Jiang Xuan was tempted for a moment to use his Gravity to force him down.

But he quickly dismissed the idea.

’I can’t pin him down.’

He was covered in a thick layer of armor condensed from Magical Power and gave off an unstoppable aura. The collapsing earth and the swarming Demon Beasts couldn’t even withstand a single clash with him.

He didn’t even attack; he just used the brute force and speed of his Flesh Body to plow forward relentlessly.

"BOOM!"

With that unparalleled strength, he really did shatter everything in his path.

This scene told Jiang Xuan that even if he managed to force him out of the sky, he wouldn’t be able to kill him.

Unable to use the terrain to his advantage, a fight between him and Chen Qianjun would be a direct clash of power.

Not that Jiang Xuan was afraid of such a fight.

But Qin Feng, Xie Hanyan, Fang Xiao, as well as Tang Yinzheng and Qiao Yue from the Rooster Daoist School, were still lurking about.

With so many wolves circling, there was no need for Jiang Xuan to engage in a life-or-death battle with him right at the start. That would only play into everyone else’s hands.

’Besides, time is on my side. Outside this realm, my Nine Breath Qi Ingestion Technique is still running, and my Magical Power is continuously refining my acupoints. The longer this drags on, the stronger I’ll get. When my Primordial Sea is perfected and my Divine Power Seed condenses, that will be the time for me to sweep away all opposition.’

After some thought, Jiang Xuan abandoned the notion of striking first.

However, he also prepared himself for a fight—he could see that Chen Qianjun was rushing back to the exact spot where Lin Yiyi had fallen into the pit.

A moment later, Chen Qianjun did indeed manage to rescue Lin Yiyi from the pit, but she was the only one he brought back alive.

Seeing this, Jiang Xuan felt no regret. He simply circulated his Magical Power in silence, adjusting the Nether Abyss Dharma Eye between his brows.

In the end, however, the two did not fight.

Chen Qianjun asked Lin Yiyi how she had ended up in the pit. After shooting a fearful glance at Jiang Xuan and then exchanging a look with Su Linyin, she finally said, "It was an accident... I was trying to save someone and didn’t expect to fall in myself."

She didn’t blame Jiang Xuan. And Su Linyin, for her part, didn’t use the opportunity to stir up trouble.

The reason both women acted with such tacit understanding, simultaneously downplaying the incident, was that they were both sharp-witted and perceptive.

The previous conflict had made both women clearly recognize one thing: the powerhouse on the opposing side (Jiang Xuan for Lin Yiyi, and Chen Qianjun for Su Linyin) possessed a profound foundation and tyrannical strength.

If the two of them were to fight, it would most likely end in mutual injury.

The current tri-school trial was critically important, and neither Jiang Xuan nor Chen Qianjun was the type of person to be swayed by a woman’s beauty or act on pure emotion.

In such a situation, only a brainless fool would leverage her status as a woman to throw a fit and instigate conflict. Doing so would only create an opportunity for others, and afterward, she would surely be despised by both Jiang Xuan and Chen Qianjun.

Thus, the more intelligent Su Linyin and Lin Yiyi both chose to de-escalate the situation for the time being.

But both women also understood one thing: at the end of the joint tri-school examination, a battle between Jiang Xuan and Chen Qianjun was inevitable.